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Monday, March 16, 2015

It was really touching

March 16, 2015

This
week was a ton of fun, and we saw miracles. Our ward mission leader works as a
repair man, and this past week, he was helping a lady fix her water heater, and
somehow he started talking to her about the church, and found out she wanted to
learn more, and come to stake conference. So, he gave us her number, and we
called her up, and had a visit with her, along with a member. In the visit, she
explained to us that she had been going to a different church for a while, but
never felt like she could open up an really express herself, but with us she
could, and so she proceeded to tell us her life story, and how she knew that
God was there and watching over her. It was really touching. She’s been through
a lot of hard times, but she knows that God has always helped her out of the
situations. She’s had a lot of health problems as well, and for a couple of
years she couldn’t walk. But she just kept bearing her testimony about how
loving God is, and then we explained that He is our father, and He loves us,
and asks us to do certain things in this life. Then, we invited her to be
baptized, and with tears pouring down her cheeks, she said she had been waiting
for someone to ask her to be baptized, and she accepted a baptismal date for
the 28th of March. She also came to stake conference, with her husband, and
they promised they would never miss a day of church. Since then, we haven’t had
a visit with them, so we don’t really know her husband very well, but they
truly are amazing people, and she at least has a very strong desire to be
baptized. It’s absolutely incredible. It’s really neat to see what Heavenly
Father does to prepare people to accept the gospel, and how He prepares and
guides us as missionary’s to help His children.

Other than that, this week was really great because we had the mission tour in Bilbao,
and stake conference, and even though we missed a full two days of work, we still
met most of our goals, and found a bunch of great people to start teaching as
well. There were so many other experiences that we had that were amazing. For
example, we were passing by a house to see if an old investigator still lived
there, and when we knocked on the door, and explained who we were, the lady who
answered asked us very sharply what we were doing looking for her daughter. So,
after talking for a minute through the timbre, we asked if we could go up and
speak face to face. The look on the lady’s face when she saw two young guys in
suits and ties was priceless, and then as we continued talking in her doorway
for the next hour, her surprise just grew and grew as we explained what we believe,
and why we do what we do, and in the end, she said we could come back on Tuesday
when her husband will be home, and she gave us a reference as well. It was
incredible.

Another really neat thing was that a menos activo family invited us over to eat
Sunday, and when we got there, the mom said she had been cooking for 4 hours
for us, because it was the first time in 8 years that missionary’s had set foot
in her home. It was a really humbling experience.

Over all, I learned a lot about the correlation between diligence, patience,
and blessings this week, because we have been working really hard, and even
though some days have been really hard, the Lord just keeps blessing us. I love
being a missionary, and especially being here in Pamplona with Elder Noovao. He
really is an amazing companion. We have so much fun, and we are really open
with each other. I really feel like he is a brother, not just another
missionary.